The Radiance of Memory Ruins
by Lokinette
Summary: Dark powers bring Cloud to Radiant Garden, where he meets Aerith. Although he has feelings for this girl, can he forget Tifa, a girl from his own world? Takes place when Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa are kids. Clorith Clifa
1. The Falling Star's Dawn

_Author's Note: While this story initially focuses on Cloud and Aerith, Tifa will come into it around the third chapter or so. There are appearances by numerous other characters, as well. :) I hope you enjoy it, and I deeply and sincerely appreciate your reviews. :) Thank you. :) I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, etc._

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A playful breeze willed shoulder-length auburn hair helplessly into the wind. It fluttered fervently, like a butterfly trapped in a spider's snare, until a small, delicate hand tucked it behind it's owner's right ear. The hand belonged to a young girl who looked to be ten or so. Her hair attended to, she resumed her true task: that of gathering wildflowers. A small stack rested at her knees, while two had been pulled astray, again the work of the mischievous gust, in her grasp's absence.

They were common, to say the least, and one could find the same varieties scattered endlessly in all directions of the world surrounding her. This did not in the slightest dampen her appreciation for them, however. She gathered them all back together and clutched them firmly but lovingly. Not a stem was broken in her care. A smile, faint and gentle, graced her features as she clutched with utmost consideration her small bouquet. She stood then, carefully brushing a few wisps of grass from her dusty-pink sundress.

It was time she set out for home, for her sake as well as that of her water-reliant flora. Her boots, nearly the same shade as her hair, trod over the verdant meadow that adorned the area. She inhaled the constant fragrance of flowers that was present here. In the close-distance, she saw a cottage that bordered the nearby town, which was also visible from her current position. Beyond the town, though more noticeable due to it's immense size, was the castle. It stood over all that was around it like a great sentient being, watching over those who would reside in it's midst.

She paused a last moment to inhale the sweet aromas that danced across the area, and to watch once more the fragile blooms that the softening breeze coaxed into waving their elegant petals. As she turned once more towards her nearby home, a muffled cry, deadened by the obvious distance of the speaker, touched her ears faintly. It came a second time, and a third, and at last the girl could distinguish her name. She turned as the one from whom the voice originated became a shape sprinting towards her from the town.

"Aerith!"

The tone was one of great alarm, which initially concerned the recipient of the message. However, Aerith could soon distinguish the figure, and relief flooded her mind. It was Yuffie, with whom all announcements were a cause for running and shouting at the top of one's lungs.

"Aerith!"

This call was more frantic even than those formerly released. At least it seemed so to Aerith, who in reply started jogging as quickly as was possible in a dress, towards Yuffie.

"Aerith! Aer...ith...!"

Yuffie gasped violently for breath, having at a steady pace run considerably further than one might expect of a nine-year-old girl.

"Yuffie? What is it?" mild uneasiness was present in Aerith's tone as she addressed Yuffie, as one could never tell quite how urgent the situation really was with her.

"I was... with... Squall... and then this... swirly purply thingy... open...ed," the smaller girl paused periodically to catch her breath, and yet still seemed to be talking too fast. "Squall told... me to... get somebody... but I could... tell... he was about... to wet... himself... So I stayed and this kid about... our age... fell out of... the purply-swirl-thing."

Yuffie seemed to have mostly caught her breath at this point and stood up more fully, unbending her knees as she stretched.

"Do you have any... water...?" Yuffie pleaded hopefully.

Aerith shook her head apologetically as Yuffie allowed a near-deafening groan to escape her.

The older of the two was still trying to piece together an image in her mind of what had happened from the younger's hurried explanation.

"So... Where did you see all this? Where are Squall and the kid now?" Aerith spoke in more rushed a manner than was typical of her, but didn't reach nearly Yuffie's rapidity.

"Oh yeah... The kid was unconscious, so me an' Squall started arguing over who'd go get help... We were over by that alley between those two buildings... kinda on that one road, only you go to the left an'... Umm... Anyway, you gotta come or Squall will win!" as the last words left her, Yuffie grabbed Aerith by one arm and weakly tried to pull her along.

Aerith, both curious and piteous gave in and did her best to keep up with Yuffie, who had somehow mustered the strength start sprinting again. Elmyra, who had cared for Aerith since her parents disappearance during her infanthood, would be out for some time to come, anyhow.

As they set foot in the town, Aerith began to feel as though she would pass out from exhaustion, while she noted that her friend had slowed only slightly. She was led through twisting roads and alleys, until at last they reached what must have been 'that one road where you go left an'', because Aerith soon found herself facing the obvious scene of this event.

Squall stood at the entrance, his face consumed by a bizarre look of fear and amazement at Yuffie's choice of 'help'.

"You brought another kid?" Squall stated in a derogatory way, placing his forehead in his right hand. "A town full of adults, and you went the extra mile to leave town and bring another kid?"

"Well maybe you should have gone yourself!" Yuffie spat back in a strangely pompous and satisfied tone.

As Aerith contemplated her role in Yuffie's revenge on Squall for his 'laziness', she suddenly recalled the situation. Her eyes darted to the back of the alley. There was no 'swirly-purply-thingy' in sight, but a boy about Squall's age was propped up against the back wall. He had fair hair, which was pulled into rather messy spikes, and his eyes were tightly shut in almost a wince. His jaw was clamped into a grimace, and he looked as though his teeth were probably gritted together.

Aerith approached him with a mixture of apprehension and interest as her two friends argued heatedly. She cautiously put her hand on the boy's shoulder and shook him gently, then letting it occur to her that she didn't even know if he was human. The boy failed to stir for a moment, then appeared to tighten his facial features and let out a quiet moan.

Startled, Aerith nearly leapt back, but ultimately took only a retreating, slow step or two back, never taking her eyes from him. Squall noticed as well, and halted his fight with Yuffie to turn in shock at the waking 'alien'.

"Ha ha, you're so funny! I might have fallen for that when I was kid and you'd say-," she was cut off by Squall, who took it upon himself to firmly grasp her shoulders and turn her to face the end of the alley.

There was a long silence as the three watched the frightening and yet captivating spectacle before them. Aerith found herself unable to step any further away from the stranger, her body becoming limp and her jaw falling slightly ajar as she watched.

The boy's eyes fluttered several times before at last opening and attempting to take in the unfamiliar sights around him. He groaned a bit and attempted to stand, failing to reach even his knees, and finally settling back where he had been.

"Wh... Where... am I...?" he muttered weakly at last.

Aerith paused, wondering for a long moment whether or not it would be wise to answer.

"Ra... Radiant Garden," she choked out at last.

"Where?" the boy's tone had now become one of utter perplexity.

"Radiant Garden," Squall repeated Aerith's words, trying to sound calm.

"What...?" he seemed to say this to himself as he drew himself up to a full sitting position.

After a long pause, the boy let out a soft cry and held his head. He closely sealed his eyes for a few instants, before his vision eventually drifted up to the girl who had first spoken to him.

"Who are you?" the boy said this in either a kind or weak tone, or perhaps a combination of the two.

"Aerith Gainsborough...," she replied hesitantly.

The newcomer to Radiant Garden, in obvious pain of some sort, attempted to stand once more. This time he managed to do so, though by leaning heavily on the wall for support.

"Are you... alright?" Aerith's question was timidly spoken, though for an indeterminable reason she felt far less anxious now.

"...Yeah...," he gasped, staggering a bit as he attempted to gain balance.

Yuffie continued to stare blankly, occasionally opening her mouth just slightly, as if to speak, though in the end maintaining her awe-struck silence. Squall made an effort to appear unshaken by the current situation, wasted though it may have been, as no eyes were on him.

"What...," Squall's voice faltered here, as he contemplated his choice of words. "How did you get here?"

"...I...," the boy's reply was cut short by his fatigue and confusion.

There was a momentary silence as the boy attempted to get a sense of his surroundings and his interrogators pondered whether he might soon fall unconscious again. Aerith at last took a meek step forward, twisted her neck to see the eyes within his drooping head, and placed a hand caringly on his left shoulder. Fearful knots in her stomach though there may have been, she found enduring the look of terror and bewilderment possessing the face of the boy no older than herself to be more unbearable still.

"What's your name?" Aerith's tone was soft, and her words nearly whispered.

There was a pause of fair amount before the boy at last drew a long, fragile breath and spoke.

"...Cloud... Strife..."

Aerith dipped her head faintly in soundless acknowledgement.

"Umm... Like... What now?" Yuffie cut in at last.

"He obviously can't walk far, if at all... and leaving him in an alley doesn't seem like a great plan...," Squall speculated. "At the same time, there'll be too many questions if we try to get help... We'd get dragged into it."

"It would probably be best if no one found out about the...," Aerith paused, racking her mind for a better term than 'purply-swirl-thingy'. "...portal. It would bring too much worry, and people might begin to see him as a threat."

"_We_ still don't know that he _isn't_," Squall reminded them, a note of mistrust overtaking his speech.

"What a thing to say in _front_ of him!" Yuffie scolded, her hands resting on her hips.

"We _don't_," was the reply the younger girl's companion offered her. "Forgive me for not sharing in your blind trust."

"Either way, we can't leave him here," Aerith cut in in hopes of ending yet another of friend's arguments swiftly.

"Oh... yeah," Yuffie recalled.

"I suppose...," Aerith pieced together a hap-hazard plan in her frenzied thoughts. "...we could take him back to Elmyra... She usually knows when things are best left quiet, and hardly anyone ever comes to the cottage..."

Squall looked thoughtful for a time, and at last seemed to agree, as he nodded.

"How do we get him there, though?" he asked blandly.

"...I can walk... Just give me a few more... minutes," Cloud himself at last stated.

"Are you sure?" Aerith questioned, turning to him in surprise.

"...Yeah...," stuttered though it was, his response was stronger than before.

The three Radiant Garden residents gazed at him wonderingly, having formerly expected him to collapse at any minute. They were, in all honesty, surprised he had even been capable of enough awareness to hear their conversation.

As if he had received some unheard signal, Cloud pulled himself into an entirely erect posture and unsteadily let go of the wall. Aerith seemed to understand, and walked slowly alongside him, guiding him back to Elmyra's dwelling.


	2. The Light's Cold Veil

_Author's note: I hope you like the new chapter, and please review. :) Reviewing makes me write all the faster. :) Shameless review-begging aside, Tifa will most likely make her entrance in the next chapter. :) That should complicate things. Thank you so much for reading! :)_

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Elmyra's decision in the matter of Cloud was much as Aerith had expected it to be. She had agreed the boy's appearance needn't be mentioned across every vast corner of The Radiant Garden, and decided it best he stay at their home until this could be cleared up. However, Aerith knew her guardian well, and through Elmyra's outwardly self-assured nature the girl detected an air of anxiety, and perhaps even terror. Aerith told herself continually that it was an expected reaction to such a situation, but there was a sort of remembering fright in Elmyra's eyes that never allowed the girl much peace of mind. Elmyra had unblinkingly stood up to every hardship that had befallen them in Aerith's life thus far, and so to now see her expression that of concealed horror was a strange and unsettling thing.

However, Aerith was not without dexterity in the area of driving unpleasant thoughts from her mind. She now walked passively outside, wandering further into the greenery surrounding her. Her gaze drifted absently to the town, where she supposed she must have resided as an infant. It was where she had been told her parents had lived, though of them she knew little more. It would be now that Aerith honed her skills in allowing optimism to overlap her melancholy. She pushed her thoughts to the matter of approaching Cloud, who was watching the town as he rested a short distance from where she stood.

In but a few weeks time, Aerith felt as though Cloud had lived in Radiant Garden all his life, and had grown up alongside Yuffie, Squall, and herself. Cloud, his nature as much a mystery as his origin, would sometimes sit quietly for great spans of time, while on other occasions he might tell Aerith bits and pieces about his world. Aerith would listen intently, for though his tales were often of a trivial nature, she found them nonetheless fascinating.

Cloud was contemplating a conversation he had shared with Aerith in the past.

"_...We had a farm... A few chocobos, but nothing much, really. There was this one time... the biggest chocobo got out, and...," he paused here, for though Aerith had said nothing, he could tell from her bewildered expression she hadn't any idea what a 'chocobo' was._

_He was reminded again of how different this world was from his own, however deceptively it would bear it's similarities._

"_...Kind of like...," he halted a second time._

_What could he compare it to? He had been here such a short time... He didn't know what species existed here, nor what they called them..._

"_...Well anyway, the others took it's lead and...," he had then resumed his story, realizing an explanation impossible._

It was at these times he would realize once more how much an alien he must have seemed to Aerith, as well as to everyone in this world. He would continue his story, though in a nearly hesitating fashion, avoiding further mention of chocobos, or the names of towns he had visited, or anything else he had yet to witness here. By the next time he told a story, however, he would have forgotten this tactic and again would see Aerith's imperfectly veiled expression of wondering.

As far as the eye could see there were only foreign sites of a phenomenon both splendid and horrific. He was in another world, of all things; a physical world like his own, yet entirely separate in countless regards. He had spent his every second here unable to entirely stop endlessly contemplating the sheer awe of what had become of him.

At this moment in time, he found himself feeling both quiet and desperate. In Aerith he had found someone whom he felt faintly comfortable consoling in, despite his feelings that he himself proved only an unwanted catch in her life. He was pained by thoughts he wished to tear apart and examine with someone who would listen, and yet knew it callous to simply place their knowledge in the heart of another to ease his own burden. He supposed his feelings selfish, though accepted that nearly every aspect of his existence up until now had subsided on self-interest, and thus spoke once more.

"Has anyone else ever come to this world?" he began in a low, almost reluctant tone. "The way I did, I mean."

Aerith paused in an awkward hush, feeling as though the sound of her voice would cause the boy who rested so solidly on the ground before her to dissolve into the still air. The thought was more agonizing than she would have imagined it to be, as though some unseen wraith were sucking the air from her lungs and filling her with an otherworldly poison in her breath's place.

At long last, the impulse to end the torturous silence overwhelmed her. Why was the quiet so suffocating? It was a normal question for him to ask, certainly. She supposed his words wrenched apart the illusion she had subtly created, of his belonging in her world. She responded with hesitation, despite knowing well the answer.

"No," she could think of nothing to add; no consolation, no explanation of his arrival. Simply an unintentionally cold word every human being had surely heard a thousand times or more in his or her life.

A reply of any kind, verbal or in expression, was heavily delayed on Cloud's part. After a time, he raised his head and offered her a soft nod. He felt cruel for his lack of gratitude or warmth, but he could not summon the strength to offer any.


	3. The Defiant's Fate

_Author's note: Here's the new chapter. :) It focuses mostly on Cloud this time, but Aerith is featured much more in the next chapter. I'm much more likely to update quickly if I get reviews, so I would really love any feedback. :) I appreciate your time, interest, and reviews; thank you so very much. :) Hope you enjoy this chapter! :) I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, etc.

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"_You could've died."_

"_I didn't, though."_

"_You could've died... and I would've just let you."_

"You_ could've died, as well... You did more than you should have."_

"_You can't rely on me... I can't... protect you."_

Cloud felt as though laughter and tears had joined in a mocking dance, forcing him to endure the memories of the blind faith that had been placed in him. It was beyond blind, he then realized, for he had proven countless times his own insignificance. He was incapable of altering even slightly the course that events would take. To have faith in him, one would have to defy what they saw.

Cloud stood quietly, as not to wake Aerith or Elmyra in the adjoining rooms. He settled his vision on the sight beyond the nearest window. The lavender and fuchsia hues of dawn spanned the sky like evanescent feathers that vanished softly into the rising sun's glare. It was early, though he was too tired to guess how early, and he didn't feel like searching for a clock.

Despite having stayed here for nearly a month, he actually had very little of the cottage's layout memorized, as he was hardly ever inside. It was a tiny house, full of small rooms and narrow doorways. Elmyra was almost constantly within tight confines the walls provided, and he didn't want to be in the way of whatever tasks she might be tending to. Also, he supposed he would have felt awkward snooping around the residence as though it were his own. Thus, he spent the majority of his time in the meadow that sprawled beyond the dwelling's humble visage.

The contrast between the somewhat weathered structure he now found himself exiting and the vast fields that lay beyond it was immense. It was as though the train of an elegant gown had been added to a tattered apron. Yet, even as he made this comparison, he could not help but feel as though Aerith's home proved eternally more welcoming than the far grander visions that now sprawled like a lifeless painting to greet him.

He recalled vivid landscapes from his own world as well, though these had been farmers' fields. They had been a warm, inviting sight, filled with all the fond sentiments of the practicality they had provided as a means to get by. They had not seemed but cold canvases that would bear only the ability to deaden his senses with their splendor and flamboyant hues.

For all his fascination with this new world, he could not say he took much pleasure in watching the scenery. Aerith, on the other hand, saw these sights every day of her life, and yet never tired of them. He supposed, to her, _these_ must have been like the farmers' fields; of a unique, nostalgic beauty, and able to serve a purpose all their own.

What did the sights of his own memories look like now? Did they still exist? Were the people he knew still there, going about their lives, or had they all vanished into the abyss of a ruined world?

He found his ability to breathe lessening as his throat tightened suddenly. His darkness... Did his darkness really possess the ability to make all those he wanted to protect suffer? Was his very existence an irony in that all he wanted to save would be destroyed? Did he really have... such malicious eyes? Were those eyes only his darkness, or simply a reflection of his entire heart that he himself could not see?

"_Your heart is devoid of any feeling that could bring joy from anything but pain; of any light that makes you more than the messenger of darkness."_

A shooting pain echoed through Cloud's frame at the words within his own heart, and he fell to the ground numbly. That voice that had harkened the ending of his world, or perhaps only the beginning of his being cast from it, had spoken once more.

Tears of hatred and grief formed in the corners of Cloud's eyes, blurring his vision as he searched his surroundings for the sight that could not be found.

"_There is no light within you to serve as a counterbalance. You are a living void."_

"Stop! Just stop! Please... I don't want...," Cloud choked as he struggled to speak, feeling as though a hand were twisting tightly around his throat.

An inhuman laughter like a soft, cruel chime filled every ounce of Cloud's consciousness, and the boy felt his himself blacking out. As his last shard of awareness was siphoned away, more words came to him.

"_As long as you exist, everything around you will inevitably disappear into the void of your very heart. All but me, for I shall be the last remnant of an empty world."_


	4. The Faded's Hope

_Author's Note: The fourth chapter. :) I hope you like it, and I really love reviews (though I've probably made that pretty clear in my other Author's Notes). :) I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, etc._

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_"Did you get the chocobos back in alright?"_

_It was a soft voice... A familiar voice..._

"_Yeah, mom was out long enough for me to handle it... She doesn't even know yet, but I guess she'll hear about it from a neighbor sooner or later."_

_Warm laughter ensued from the one to whom Cloud had just spoken._

"_Then I guess... There's nothing for me to do."_

"_Did you _want_ to round up chocobos?"_

"_No... I... just..."_

_This world... it was... dissolving..._

_Cloud's heart skipped as he tried to maintain these carefree images, though they soon slipped into an unreachable alcove of time, where they would wither and twist until their disappearance altogether came to be._

"Aah...," a groggy shout escaped Cloud's mouth as he found himself again in the present.

His eyes gradually focused and he found their first sight to be that of Aerith. She was sitting on a chair she had pulled up at his bedside, her head jerking suddenly to lift her gaze from the floor as he cried out.

She seemed to be wondering if she should speak to him or allow him more time to regain his senses. At last, her voice filled the silence with pleasant feelings, the frightening hush fading at her quiet words.

"Are you... alright, Cloud?" she stuttered just slightly, and the boy whom she addressed could not help but feel as though it was with apprehension.

He did not speak just yet, but allowed her soft tone's kindness to drift into nothingness, until the world seemed at painful stillness once more.

"I...," another pause followed, Cloud suddenly realizing how dry his throat felt, and how stiff his vocal chords seemed. "Yeah..."

Aerith nodded, her eyes failing to meet his.

As he became more aware of his surroundings, the boy noticed Elmyra settled in an old rocking chair in the corner of the room. A book rested in her lap, placed with it's open pages facing downward, as though she had just set it there. She seemed as though she didn't know what to think; whether to be sympathetic towards Cloud or to fear him. In the end, her eyes seemed to express that she had settled on both.

He could no longer bear to look at either of the people in the room, and merely faced downwards. He wished he were outside, where neither of them could see the troubled eyes that he weakly tried to conceal. He was too weak... too weak to even stand. His legs felt as though they were weighted down, and his arms too flimsy to pull himself up. The stagnant, agonizing tranquility returned, bringing with it enough suffering that he wanted to scream harder than his deadened voice would allow.

The laughter came again... not the friendly giggle that had existed in his recollections a moment before, but the lifeless, indistinct echo that resounded with a malevolence that seemed beyond human ability. He felt too hazy to discern it as being a remembrance itself or a voice in the present, and he was too frustrated to even care anymore.

He forced himself to stand, clinging to the bed frame for support as he nearly toppled over from fatigue. Aerith stared at him with trepidation, unsure of his thoughts. Cloud eventually gained some degree of control over his body and sprinted awkwardly for the door. He noticed Elmyra allowing a near-silent sigh to escape her, though Aerith was too preoccupied to perceive it.

Cloud shambled along with great inelegance until he was ten yards or so from the house, at last falling to his knees in the flowers. He found his body to be aching for breath, exhausted from what seemed to be so little exertion. He gasped for air, unable to offer his lungs enough, it seemed.

He fell onto his side, his eyes tightly sealed in pain. As he reopened them for a split second, he saw through their blurred vision that Aerith was standing at the cottage door. He couldn't distinguish her expression, though her hands were folded tightly, and she stood as if an unmoving image in a solemn mural.

He felt as though his emotions were mixing and contorting until they lacked human quality, and served only to seethe until his soul would shatter. There was physical pain as well, now, growing more vivid.

That laugh... That horrid laughter that seemed to warp the very world around him... it was now clearly in the present, and seemed to become so deafening his ears began to ring. He wished they would ring loudly enough to overcome that unfeeling sound that filled his consciousness now, but it only joined the voice in a ghoulish symphony... Louder... louder... He couldn't tell whether or not he was screaming.

"Cloud!"

The cry was distant and muffled; too weak to truly reach him in such a place as dark as this.

"_Cloud!"_

A... memory? A voice in his own memories?

"_Promise me!"_

"Tifa?" he could not tell whether he had spoken this or only thought it.

In a moment it seemed as though the world had faded... had become the void his darkness had promised. At last, he saw Aerith, her form foggy and indistinct. She gradually became clear, as did the meadow around her. She was crying, and had grasped his hand so tightly he could feel his fingers throbbing.

"Aerith?" he at last spoke her name, unsure whether his voice was yet trapped within his mind.

Aerith clutched his hand all the tighter and continued to weep.

"I'm sorry... I'm... okay," he attempted to console her, though he supposed these words he repeated endlessly had long since become meaningless.

"Cloud.. What's wrong...? What... What's wrong with you?" the words came with little poetic tact from Aerith's lips.

"I... can't..."

His mind again overwhelmed him, bringing a voice with a sound as soft and faint as that of a spider's web breaking. He answered what it asked him with his thoughts, though in a way he tried to resist doing so.

"_Then why did you promise?"_

_Because... I wanted to believe I could._

"_Why does it matter?"_

_Because..._

The pain was gone. He stood as lightly as though it had never existed, Aerith loosening her grip on his hand and allowing it to slip away as he drew himself up. She raised her vision to watch him from where she still rested on her knees, her eyes lit by wondering, awe, and a faint foreboding.

"I'm... sorry," he again used these words, unsure of what he could say that would better suit the moment.

Aerith began to slowly rise as well, drying her eyes on her wrist. She nodded once slowly, at a loss.

"I...," he wondered why he was still speaking; there was nothing more he could bring himself to say.


	5. The Break's Dusk

_Author's Note: Yay! Chapter 5! Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed this story, you've really kept my spirits up. :) Please review, I really appreciate it. :) I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, etc._

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"Aerith..."

The nearby girl whom Cloud had beckoned drew herself up from where she had been yet again selecting flora for an arrangement. An empty vase in the cottage window, it's blooms having long since withered, had become suddenly conspicuous to Aerith. She had not adorned it with any of the meadow's vast bounty of flowers since the day Cloud had arrived in The Radiant Garden. The vase now held an aura of desolation, as though it possessed the very essence of solitude.

She stepped deftly across the field to where Cloud now rested, his arms wrapped loosely around his knees. Even the simple grasses seemed blossoms as the dawn's gentle brilliance reflected in the dew that rested precariously and precisely upon each blade. They glinted in the girl's vision, blinding her as she strained to see the face of the boy who had spoken to her moments before. At last, she sat beside him, awaiting his voice's continuation.

"There was... a friend I had in Nibelheim," his words contained an air of hesitance, as though he were stepping through a locked door that he could never again pass through, and into an unforeseeable future.

Aerith was silent, politely waiting for him to finish whatever it was he so wished to get out. How Cloud longed for her to speak; to assure him there was solid ground beneath his feet in these shadows that he could not see through no matter how he struggled. Could he turn back? Certainly there would always be more than one path to choose? Could he perhaps avoid this inevitable road a bit longer and continue to bask in his illusions of assurance?

"What do you... Do you think... maybe anyone else from my world wound up here?" his words dodged tactfully what it was he truly wanted to say, as they often had all his life.

"_Just tell me!"_

A jolt of shock struck Cloud as a voice quite unlike that of his darkness coursed through him suddenly.

"It's my fault... I'm the reason...," he began again, not offering Aerith enough time to answer his question.

"_That's the easiest way, isn't it?"_

This voice was not a memory, to be sure, yet it did not seem at all as vivid or present as the words of his darkness.

"Will you... just say something...? It scares me when you get like this," it was Aerith's voice that interfered with his thoughts now; her tone was that of wavering, an evident sense of disquiet within it.

"_So... That's it, then? You'll run until you fall, and then what?"_

"My world... was swallowed by darkness. I might have...," he began to feel ill as he spoke.

Everything: his thoughts, his surroundings, his mind itself, became blurred together. He felt as though he was shattering; as though he needed to speak quickly or what he wanted to say would never be heard.

"I... could have brought it with me," he unintentionally spat the words like a bitter herb from his lips.

Aerith's mouth opened slightly, then sealed itself just as quickly. There were surely no sentiments that could veil this moment in ease.

"I... shouldn't be here... I'd leave if I could... but... I don't know how...," he slowly branched into a series of apologies, delaying, if only by seconds, finishing his explanation.

Again, awkward placidity met his words.

"He'll... He'll destroy this world, as well," Cloud filled the emptiness with a strangling revelation that ripped apart all projections of wished-for simplicity.

The girl before him turned her gaze to the direction opposite his position, though he could tell her eyes held only poorly hidden panic.

He supposed that now he had become more than useless; he had surely become a curse. Would it go on like this for countless infinites, until all was enveloped by lifeless shadows? Had he, without realizing it, truly become the messenger of ruin? He could see no other way... Upon this world's destruction, he would be brought to another, and from there this cycle would go on until there was nothing left.

"_You're content with that?"_

_Of course not!_

"_Then don't let it happen!"_

_What do you want me to do? I can't..._

"_No... you can't. Not like this."_

Cloud gasped weakly, as though suffocating. Her words... Where were they coming from?

Aerith had begun walking toward the cottage, her steps appearing to be somewhat unstable. She seemed almost in a trance, as if unaware of all that was around her. Cloud buried his head in his knees as he let his vision drift slowly from the girl, wishing he and he alone could fade into darkness.


	6. The Sword's Breath

_Author's Note: Here's chapter 6. :) Hopefully it will get a bit more exciting (and angsty) from here on out. :) As always, reviews make me more motivated to write, so please review. :)  
_

_I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, etc._

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"_It has begun."_

"What are you talking about?" Cloud's words were spoken aloud, in a low, seething tone.

Aerith was not here to listen to his seemingly one-sided conversation, so it mattered not if he replied to his darkness as though it were standing before him.

"_Perhaps I need not interfere. You seem to be bound to the path of ruin whether I enforce it or not."_

"Will you... Will you just shut up? Why is it... What is it about _me_... Why do you haunt _me_?" the boy hissed furiously, hatred writhing madly in the deepest recesses of his heart and growing immensely with every word his darkness offered.

The answer he received was a mocking laughter. It was reminiscent of that of an adult to a child who had asked a foolish question, only lacking any fond warmth.

"_You can hide all you like. Perhaps that's the only way you can bring yourself to go on living."_

Cloud looked to the ground, where flowers swayed almost in a unique rhythm. He was hypnotized by their dance for a moment, until an occurrence pierced him like a fine needle. Everything seemed to become gray and lifeless as he watched it... Death seemed to spread like thin, translucent paint from where he rested, consuming the meadow that surrounded him. Whatever it touched was frozen within what appeared to be an eternal, motionless ice. It would reach the cottage soon... and the town... Perhaps the sky... the stars... Aerith...

A resonance of his darkness' laughter formed in his thoughts, louder than it's origin.

"_It has begun."_

The fluid-like decadence that was gradually overtaking the world around him seemed to flow with less ease, now; it almost seemed to be struggling. It had branched into thousands of sinewy, thread-like strands of silver. Some threads dissipated and broke apart like tiny sprays of water, while the majority persisted onwards endlessly.

Cloud wished desperately to scream, yet a sense of futile hopelessness had filled him with a dreamlike numbness. He was positive, for a moment, that he _was_ dreaming. Surely... that was all this could be...

"_You could end it!"_

The boy felt a fading revival from his deadened state upon hearing this voice. It was not his darkness... He recognized this other voice... He was certain...

"How? Tifa, please...?" he begged pitifully for her to guide him.

"_Stop trying to bury everything!"_

"Tifa, where are you?" his tone had become desperate, as though this sound that served as a sweet and stinging balm would shatter in an instant.

For a moment, her visage flashed through his mind. She smiled and giggled, shaking her head laughingly.

"_It doesn't matter..."_

"It does!" tears streamed down Cloud's face as the tiny rivers of the void continued to flow from his heart as though blood from a vein.

"_Until this world begins to break, only you will see the decay."_

His darkness now spoke again, eliminating the echoes of Tifa's words.

"_They will all become soulless fragments of the void."_

A second face overwhelmed Cloud's thoughts, nearly drawing him into unconsciousness. Those eyes... they were the same... exactly the same... as before.

"Sephiroth!" he at last choked out the name of the hated voice that spoke to him now.

"_My name is irrelevant, as is your's. We are the same."_

"That's not..." the boy paused in reluctant hesitance.

He wanted desperately to cast aside Sephiroth's accusation, but felt an aching guilt at the thought of doing so... He wanted to speak with a powerful conviction; to eliminate the entangled mass of confusion and uncertainty that prevented him from thinking clearly.

Silence, torturous more-so than any he had endured before, ensued his unfinished statement.

"Yeah... I guess you're right," at last, he ended the hush with a tone that was entirely emotionless.

Sephiroth's face again came to his thoughts, an amused smirk now upon his lips.

"_So, you'll fight, after all?"_

Cloud did not formulate a reply. He needn't speak aloud to be heard.

He had always wished his darkness to be a separate entity, but never had he truly suspected it was. He wouldn't blame everything on himself... nor would he blame himself for nothing.

"_Intriguing. However, your light is gone."_


	7. The Memory's End

_Author's Note: I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please review. :)  
_

_I still don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, etc. _

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_This world... It wasn't a dream... It couldn't be a memory..._

"_Cloud!"_

_Tifa..._

"_What's happening?" her voice was laced with fright and anguish._

_Tifa... Wait... This was..._

"_Papa... he's..." the translucent, vaporous light surrounding the girl highlighted the tears that slid solemnly across her face._

_Another voice swiftly succeeded Tifa's._

"_Cloud... Are you truly this selfish?" it was the darkness, his tone laughing._

_It could be noticed that Tifa's body was shaking perceptibly, now, tears draining from her features as she eyed with intense malice the last speaker._

_Strands of the unnamed silver decay consuming Nibelheim rose up as though snakes pulling back in preparation to strike._

_Tifa charged blindly at the embodiment of darkness, from whose great sword seeped the liquid death. The man simply watched, with a hint of amusement in his bitter stare. As Tifa drew near enough to him, he raised his blade, its length exposed. As Sephiroth prepared to strike the girl, something happened that he had failed to anticipate._

_Tifa's body, though unharmed and untouched by the decadence around her, dissolved, leaving only her heart. It was at first scarlet by hue, yet faded into a pale gold in a small time. The darkness attempted to impale it as he watched its metamorphosis, an unexpected apprehension overcoming him. The heart proved invulnerable to all destruction offered it, however, and passed through Sephiroth's weapon. At last, it flowed into the man's chest. He grasped the point where it had sunken within his flesh, as though he had been gravely wounded. It gradually brought him to his knees, gasping for breath. A curtain of light began to stretch across his silhouette, and as the radiance besieged him, he vanished. Only the silver threads lingered to serve as morbid reminders of his having existed._

_All I did... was stand here... watching... You can't rely on me... I can't... I couldn't... protect you..._

"_Everything I did... I did of my choosing."_

_Then... Did you know what would happen?_

"_Of course."_

_Then... why?_

"_Because... you needed a light."_

_My light... is gone._

"_No... but if you believe that, it will stay hidden."_

_Tifa... The same thing... It's going to happen again._

"_You're sorry you didn't stop Sephiroth before, right...? You're sorry... you couldn't protect Nibelheim?"_

_...Yeah._

"_No... You're sorry... you didn't try."_

_What good am I? Some scrawny kid who can't even work up the courage to..._

_There was a faint, echoing giggle from Tifa._

"_Work up the courage to... what?"_

_To... nothing._

"_Don't bother... I can read your heart. If you really tried, you could probably read mine, too..."_

_Why?_

"_Because... I'm like Sephiroth, now."_

_What do you mean?_

"_You still... don't get it."_

_How do you expect me to?_

_More loving laughter._

"_You were always like that..."_

_Cloud was watching, unable to move, as crevices scarred the earth. The land cracked apart in slow-motion, and the village sunk into the abyss. He knew what was to come. The essence of death that had been eating away at this world had completed its task, and now changed path. Cloud supposed he had been saved for last, at Sephiroth's will, so that he might first endure watching his home fall apart around him. He felt as though he were numb and empty, unable to feel anything more in this dreamlike reality. He looked pensively to the ground, and found himself to be standing on a small chunk of land that hovered threateningly above a void of blackness._

_The silver decay seeped through the stagnant air in a way that was both nauseating and beautiful, at last reaching the boy who unresponsively observed it. The threads contorted themselves around his body, as if to strangle or suffocate him. They pressed closer and closer to his flesh, beginning to break through the skin like a rope that was tied too tightly. Had he not been so thoroughly deadened at this point, Cloud might have screamed for the burning pain it caused both emotionally and physically. He felt as though his heart would collapse... Everything faded, becoming one with the darkness that rested below the platform on which he stood. He would join it, as well... He must... It was inevitable... He no longer felt sorrow as he came to this realization, nor did he feel anything else. He conceded to the pain and felt it leave as he entered the pure void..._

_As the decadence pierced him completely, he felt a strange warmth..._


End file.
